Taking the plunge!

When I started my first business, as is so often the case, I didn’t have much money to spend on anything.  Coming from the big budgets of a global corporation, it was quite a challenge to learn how to get maximum impact for minimum outlay!  I still get great satisfaction from finding a ‘good bargain’.

However, this frugality has also backfired on me and held my business back.

You see, I believed it was wrong to spend much on training to learn more about business.  But the free or low-cost seminars and workshops just left me increasingly frustrated because they didn’t give me the whole story!

I’d been following several very successful business owners whom I admired, hearing them tell about the importance of investing in their personal development, and that they spent as much as they could afford (sometimes even more than was comfortable) on hiring a coach and training.

At some point a couple of years ago, it dawned on me that my belief was actually holding me back from success.  It wasn’t a case of waiting until I could comfortably afford to invest in training at all!  The training had to be done first, and then the business would be more successful.  Not really a light bulb moment, more of a ‘Duh, why didn’t I think of that before?’ moment!

All the time I was thinking small and penny pinching on my personal development, I was in effect saying that neither my business or I deserved more.

As soon as I took the plunge and started investing serious amounts of time and money in training and coaching for myself, that’s when I began attracting more business.  I was even able to get some of the training paid for under a government initiative!

Business is still growing, and I’m still investing in it!  Never again will I be a ‘cheap-skate’ because I now know that my business is worth the best.

It's great to put another tick in the box!

Like most small business owners, I struggle sometimes to get focused and make headway with projects. Even though I know all the tricks and techniques, sometimes they don’t work for me!

I’m ashamed to admit that I used to give in and do something easier or more pleasurable – like phone a friend for a chat, or even take the rest of the day off! What has really changed for me is working with a coach who doesn’t stand any nonsense! My clients will rejoice in hearing that I’m getting a taste of my own medicine!

The benefits of having a coach are many. There’s a desire to work harder, to achieve more in the knowledge that someone else is going to celebrate your successes. There can also be an element of discomfort if you have to report that things didn’t get done.

What I’m finding interesting is that I’m setting bigger targets for myself than before, and I’m really striving to reach or even exceed them! My motivation levels have never been higher and I am getting through an amazing amount of work.

Even though I already knew that coaching produces great results, it’s nice to have my recent experiences continue to confirm it!

Are you disappointed?

Another cause of loss of motivation is when results are disappointing. You put in all that effort and don’t get the payback.

If this happens to you, please stop doing what isn’t working, or you’re just going to get more of the same and feel even worse.

It’s a good idea to measure the results of everything you do. For marketing activities, you want to get the most business in the most cost effective way. Inside your business, you need to set up systems and processes that will make life easier.

I was working with a coaching client this week on systemising and prioritising her workload. She asked me if the new system would definitely work, because she didn’t want to put the effort in if it wouldn’t. I reminded her that her current system wasn’t working at all, so anything had to be an improvement! I expect we’ll have to make some adjustments once we have some results to measure.

Avoid becoming demotivated and make changes if what you’re doing isn’t working. Einstein said that it was a sure route to insanity to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result!

How could I be so arrogant?

When I first started blogging, I couldn't understand how fellow bloggers could go so long between postings. Now I do! I've been so busy working on new services that I haven't been able to think about anything else. And I had a problem there too, I couldn't get started on a piece of writing - until yesterday when everything fell into place and the words flowed nicely.

On the networking front, I don't have any more breakfast meetings before the new year (thank goodness because it's got very cold in the early mornings), I do have a couple more coaching sessions before Christmas and appointments in next year's diary which is reassuring!

I've been having great fun producing the new products and services that will be launched in the new year (once I got over the writer's block), although I do sometimes wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew.

Will try and post again before the end of the week - goodness, isn't Christmas getting close!

Catching up with the week

This week has been very busy - again (and I'm not complaining!). During the first part I spent a lot of time getting ready with a new workshop which I delivered today. Would you believe it was on Time Management?! I was a bit apprehensive, as I always am with a new workshop (you can never be sure what people are expecting), but it went very well. The feedback forms and testimonials are very encouraging and the whole experience gave me a real buzz as I drove back to the office this afternoon. Delivering the workshop showed me just how much I have learned about time management to share with my clients (following the techniques for myself is an entirely different matter).

Tomorrow I'm coaching again, a small business with some big ideas (very exciting) so I'm looking forward to that meeting.

My newsletter is very late going out (something I must remedy). I'm getting some very strange symbols dotted around and have had to spend ages trying to get rid of them. Must crack that tomorrow.

A bit more about Goal Setting

As you might imagine, I subscribe to lots of blogs and newsletters. I like to make sure I’m on top of the latest coaching techniques and business ideas, so that I can pass them straight on to my business coaching clients.

Yesterday, I wrote about setting goals for the month. I was reminded in a newsletter of the importance of checking that the goals are truly yours. In other words, are you doing this for yourself (because you really, really want to) or could you be doing them for someone else?

You’ll know what the answer is. If the goal is someone else’s, you will feel a bit uncomfortable. You certainly won’t feel excited by it. If, on the other hand, it’s your goal, you will feel very excited and inspired by it.

Are you excited by your goals?

Blogs can really take over your working day!

Yesterday’s workshop was a great success. I really enjoyed myself –the delegates were really great, and they worked so hard! I’m kicking myself a bit though because I took a camera with me and then completely forgot to take any shots (doh).

Today I’ve been catching up and getting ready to market the next workshop. I’ve also to listened to a couple of very interesting teleseminars about business building, including one about internet marketing and blogging. This one caught my attention because, as you might have guessed, I’m really into using a blog as a marketing tool.

As well as writing this blog, I also subscribe to receive and read several blogs I find interesting. Some are about coaching, some about marketing, copywriting, the internet, even about blogging itself – all kinds of information that might be useful for my business coaching clients and that I can share with them.

I’ve set up my iGoogle page so I know when something new has been posted on them. One small problem! Like incoming emails, seeing a new post arrive and then just having to read it, is rather addictive and very time consuming. I’m having to ration my visits to iGoogle so as not to get too distracted.

No wonder there's so much information overload!